Footprints
by Velasa
Summary: The ending of OAV2 has always intrigued me... how everyone is laughing together, but all Piccolo leaves is a set of silent footprints in the snow...


Footprints ~ by Velasa

Footprints ~ by Velasa

Summary- The ending of OAV2 has always intrigued me... how everyone is laughing together, but all Piccolo leaves is a set of silent footprints in the snow...

9/27/01 7:00 PM

NOTE~~ Well, as the summary says, I've always wondered what's running through the namekisan-jin's head when he walks off, alone. Musical inspiration is "building a mystery", by Sarah McLaclain. No other notes here, I don't own it, Toriyama-sama does, and here we go- ~~~

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The sound fades the further you go. Lace-like flurries thread across the plain, and a single, perfect snowflake glides, ever so gently, down to the pearl colored ground. It sparkles ever so brightly, but is then gone again, joined to it's brethren by the bottom of a soft-soled shoe.

A figure stops, glancing back over a softly sloping shoulder to where the sound was. Like some Grecian statue of a long-abandoned god, each muscle stands still, not the slightest sign in his pitch black eyes to give away his thoughts. Nothing. The mountains are silent.

Slowly, he lets out a sigh, eyeridges falling over his pupils. The sound is finally gone. Screams, he can understand. Speaking serves it's purpose, as does whispers. But not this.

Pikkoro surveys his surroundings, the stark mountain landscape, this realm of life and death, is all that meets his eyes.

"Finally..." he murmurs half-heartedly, and sits down in lotus position to assume meditation- but the peace just isn't there. The namekisan-jin man growls to himself, but nothing he tries to do can clear his head. And that one thought keeps playing in his mind-

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Why didn't I just stay?

It wouldn't have hurt to-

"Shakira, stop it!" he hissed aloud, cursing in his native tongue. "You didn't want to be there, that's why, just a waste of your time."

But the little voice in the back of his head wouldn't listen, and it whispered with the tone of a hurt child-

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There's nothing WRONG with being happy, is there?

"I'm the deamon king. I'm not suppose to be happy."

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Would Ma Juniaar have died for a child?

"...."

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It was just laughter....

Pikkoro glanced out from where he'd cradled his head in his hands, whispering "I'm not suppose to be happy..."

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Gohan wanted you to stay.

There's nothing wrong with making Gohan happy, is there?

Pikkoro didn't respond to his thoughts that time, just kept his head resting on his palms, shoulders slack. There was pure, undenied silence for a period of time that had no real measure, the sort of moment that even though it's merely seconds feels like years, the feeling enhanced by the lack of sound, which if you've ever experienced such a thing in your lifetime, is amazingly powerful.

Such was the way Pikkoro lived most of his life, in this silence where all a person can hear is the beating of one's own heart, but for some reason undefined, he hated it at this moment. It left him with his thoughts-

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... That's different. Don't compare anything with Gohan to the real world. That's a totally separate existence... however long it ends up lasting. He has his family, his friends... he's gonna grow up some day, he doesn't need you, Piccolo.

"SHUTUP!!!" he roared, jerking upright and screaming out, shattering the silence in a heartbeat with the rushing of an avalanche on a far peak.

He just stood there for a second, fuming, an aura of rage wrapped around his slightly trembling form. The green man brought a hand to his face to wipe out a strange wetness in his eyes, but stopped when he saw his bleeding palm, punctured by unchecked claws clenching his fists too hard. It stung a little, but he ignored it.

Pikkoro glared at the bare mountaintop he'd created, but the very sight of it so aggravated him he just blasted it with a makankousappou. All that was left was empty space, and with the last of his fit ended, his aura dispelled, leaving just the namekian man again.

His mind didn't seem to want to listen to his request, though-

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Nothing you do is going to change that. He's gonna grow up someday. You know what kids do- they get new lives. Their own lives.

That's why you should spend more time with him when he's still here...

Pikkoro's eyeridge shot up, and he murmured to noone in particular why he hadn't thought of that earlier. But without second thought he leapt to the sky and blasted back to where everyone was, a half-smile lighting his face. Yeah, Gohan was gonna grow up, but in the meantime, he was gonna make the best of the gift he'd been given, this child who looked up to him, loved him like a father, wasn't afraid or hateful of him like everyone else. A full-fledged smile lit the namek man's lips and he laughed out loud- hell, while he was at it, he might as well speak to the others, maybe they'd talk to him, maybe they'd listen to what he had to say, maybe.... This moment could change his entire life, maybe he didn't have to be lonely anymore, maybe he didn't have to suffer in solitude, maybe he'd get a.... a friend!

His eyes skimmed the surroundings, and located the valley he'd walked out of an hour ago with nothing to say, and with his heart prepared to open, he touched down on the snowy ground, and opened his mouth to speak as he opened his eyes-

Only to find himself too late- they'd all gone home.

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End file.
